Backs turned ... Dudley Council have scored a social and political own goal with their decision to ban Philip Ridley's Moonfleece (above)

It's not unusual that a play by Philip Ridley provokes a reaction. His 2005 hit, Mercury Fur, was described as "a vicious kick in the guts", a journey "to hell and back" and "a poisonous piece" - and that was just the Daily Telegraph's review. Faber and Faber, Ridley's publishers, refused to publish the text on account of "its gratuitous violence and cruelty to children". Meanwhile, the playwright described his critics as "blinder than a bagful of moles in a cellar". Yet news today that Moonfleece, Ridley's play exploring the rise of the British National Party and the far right, has been banned from the town of Dudley is arguably more grotesque and shocking than anything the 45-year-old East London artist has ever penned.

The local council have withdrawn the current production from the Mill Theatre in the Dormston Centre, Dudley, "after lengthy discussions" in which it was decided that "some of the issues raised within the play were [not] suitable for a school or community setting". But the current production of Moonfleece has deliberately toured to some of the country's most racially sensitive areas, passing through East London, Leicester, Birmingham, Bradford and Doncaster without protest.

The show's producer, Will Young, says the decision taken by Dudley council is tantamount to appeasing rightwing and BNP sympathisers "as the local seats are swinging in favour of the BNP". A touch ironically, he suggests "the council appear to want to avoid controversy" by withdrawing the Dudley date. Ridley says he is heartbroken at the "hypocrisy" of the show being pulled from an area in which its message on racism was most relevant: Moonfleece was to be staged in Dudley this Thursday; while the English Defence League have a rally organised to take place in the town on Saturday.

In truth, it's still slightly confusing as to which element of the work the council objected to: this is a play with an active teenage member of a far-right party at its centre, mourning for his dead brother. Over the course of 90 minutes, the protagonist is confronted by fellow BNP-styled party-members, his ex-girlfriend and her Asian best friend, a gay student journalist and a clairvoyant in a wheelchair. Moonfleece is, like plenty of Ridley's work, as much about the pains of youth as it is about showing up controversial, political ideas. The message is subtle where the drama is visceral – it's classic Ridley territory. Rightwing extremists, who might be the only people expected to protest for being portrayed unfavourably, aren't exactly known for their sensitivity to others. That the council would look to spare their feelings – or, and this is the crucial bit, that of any other community – by banning a work of theatre isn't so much mollifying as it is stupidly misguided: the play hoped to start a conversation about race. By trying to deny that at a local level, Dudley council have only propelled the debate on to the pages of national newspapers.